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 Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:21 pm
 Dru stumbled around the grassy knoll of weeds and things that didn't taste good at all. She never really understood how the prey animals could stomach the stuff, but she guessed it was their choice as it was usually her choice to hunt them. Well, help Mom and her siblings hunt them since she rarely wandered far from her family, though that was becoming a little . . . . stagnant.
Dru wanted adventure, excitement, newness, and of course more treasure! It was the type o treasure that she wanted to protect and keep that was changing, becoming iffy at best. She still loved her shiny stones and odd treasures like bird feathers of ranging colors or monkey skulls that she'd killed. In fact after meeting that little leopon Yrse, Dru wasn't sure the things she was collecting were the most important treasures that needed protecting. She still loved her little treasures, carrying them around in a make shift pack whenever she wandered about away from her family, but .....
Looking around at the weed and plant covered hill, Dru sighed as a stray puff of tiredness engulfed her. It was peaceful here, despite the icky tastes of the grass and plants. And she didn't need to eat it. Too bad the trees in the area were farther away then she was willing to travel at the moment. Dru settled down, tucking her make shift pack under her to protect it from random bypassing monkeys and thought about treasures and all the forms they took, trying to figure out her feelings and thoughts.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:35 pm
Green and pointy, thin and browning, bright and bitter! There were just too many things to this whole apothecary thing, WAY too many. With a sigh, the young leopon debated going back to the pride empty handed but then another image entered his head. The image of his best friend, unable to gather the ingredients himself, disappointed in him. It wasn't a pretty picture, he absolutely hated seeing Mlinzi upset, especially when it was something he could so easily fix! In this case though, easy was sugar coating the situation. No matter how many lectures he sat through, no matter how many plants he was forced to taste - he just couldn't get a handle on the whole plant situation. But he had to try.
Shrugging off his frustrations, and scanning the area ahead, the young scout to be caught something in the corner of his vision. Something brown ....? He wasn't too sure, but the idea of a fallen log, led to much better prospects - fuhn-guy or whatever it was called. Smirking with self satisfaction, the cub bounded over with little hesitation, crushing much more valuable and useful herbs under his feet in the process. The closer he got, the more he tried to focus on the task at hand - forcing his mind to find the images of safe fungi, Mlinzi had long ago forced into his head. So absorbed into his thoughts, the young leopon paid little attention to the path he had chosen to bound down, and ran smack into the log. Doing a slight tummy roll down the grassy hill as a result.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:54 pm
Dru's eyes had closed as she lay in the grasses and plants thinking of treasures and babbles, and feathers and cubs. She hadn't even been paying attention of her hearing or anything, so absorbed in her thoughts and flying images that whirled about in her head. Something smacked into her, pushing and rolling her onto her side.
Dru's eyes snapped opened and looked around in a slight daze. The log that had been a few feet away had somehow taken it upon itself to roll into her. Frowning, Dru stood slowly, hearing perked for the sounds of evil malicious monkeys somewhere about that had maybe wanted to distract her to steal the babbles that she'd managed to find on her little adventure. Instead she saw a small bundle of blue roll down the hill, head over heels. A very small bundle. Well, smaller than her. Maybe about the same size as that cute leopon cub she'd met before.
Cub. It was the size of the cub! Dru dashed to make her way in front of the little thing before it damaged itself beyond repair, hopping over sharp rocks and tangles of weeds that would have maybe tripped her up. "Keep your head tucked into your stomach!" She shouted hoping the cub heard her while it rolled. Dru made a leap as a last attempt to stop the roll down the hill.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:38 pm
As the cub continued to roll down the hill, he took little to no notice of his own physical pain. He'd become accustomed to hiding such things, being from the Kitwana. Watching others live in pain constantly, tended to make you realize your tiny cuts and bruises really are as miniscule as everyone says they are. He let out a groan as his hip hit a blunt rock, sending him a bit more airborne than he'd already been. Causing another large blunt thump as he hit the ground once more. It was about this time that he heard the voice, her advice while somewhat muffled still managed to get to his ears. But he knew tucking wasn't an option - he had to stop at some point didn't he!?
Wincing in pain and a bit of fear, Mezlijin extended his tiny claws, and latched onto the ground hoping the traction would at least slow him down slightly. It worked, but only minimally, his claws weren't quite long or sharp enough to hold their ground very well causing the little one to stop tumbling, but continue to slide. At a much slower rate, but sliding none the less.
Taking the opportunity, the stunned male took a look around for the voice of reason he'd heard just seconds earlier, but nothing just a bunch of grass and weeds. Crushed weeds. Mezlijin's jaw dropped in shock as he realized what he'd done. He'd failed the ONE job he'd been given!
A small tear formed in the cubs eye, as he continued to slide, DID THIS HILL EVER STOP!? The thought seemed almost pointless as the hill did indeed stop - but in an unexpected way. A fluffy, warm way?
As he rump came to a stop against the warm, fluffy lump, the cub attempted to pull himself to his feet, wobbling the entire way, and attempting to see through his double vision. Turning his attention toward the curious leopon stopper, he noticed it looked oddly like him... With a start, the cub jumped to alert and immediately began spouting apologies. "Oh man! I'm sorry, so sorry, I didn- I couldn- You came out of nowhere!" He finally managed to mumble out, between gasps of air.
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:54 pm
Dru had watched as the cub had hip rocks and attempted to stop itself by clawing the hill as it tumbled down. Dru's heart was in her stomach during the cub's rolling, sliding, skidding down. Her desperate attempt to stop it was the jump. She leaded in front of the cub and skidded down the hill just a bit, but the cub was safe tucked into her stomach until they came to a stop.
The cub wobbled to his feet, and Dru took the opportunity to lay on her stomach, assessing both her own injuries, and looking at the cubs. He didn't even seem to notice the cuts and bruises at littered the cub's body.
His alertness jump amused Dru as he attempted to apologize? For what? Falling? Seriously? He was cute too. Were all cubs so cute and in obvious need of protection? Dru was beginning to think so. She smiled at the excited cub.
"Are you alright? You have quite a few wounds on you? Is everything able to move? Do you feel any pain? Or numbness?" Dru remembered that numbness was just as bad as pain. Maybe worse.
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:09 pm
The barrage of questions normally wouldn't have seemed like much to the cub, what with Mlinzi always at the ready to here more of his stories of the outside world. But after such a tumble, he was more than slightly scatter brained, and the quick assault to his mind didn't seem to help that.
"I-I'm fine. It's nothing really, my frie-" His friend? Which did he mean? The one he'd let down? He doubted Mlinzi would be very happy with him right now, but he ignored his worry and tried to continue. "My friend can see to me when I get home. I'm a big boy after all!" He boasted proudly, pressing his chest out and attempting to look somewhat acceptable.
As the other questions began to sink in, the cub took a close look at his own body. He was sore, in more places than he cared to count, but he thought he make it out OK. There was nothing in the world Mlinzi couldn't fix! To further prove his bill of health to the new female, Mezlijin took his front right paw, and wiggled it front to back, holding in the slight bit of pain he felt as he did so. "Yeah, everything still works! Thank you for your concern, and didn't I just say i'm a big boy? Big boys don't feel pain!" He scoffed at the remark and tried to focus on his body for other signs of harm. The task was all too simple, but even a cub could see it wasn't fair for her to worry over something that was not a fault of her own.
"I don't know about numbness... I thought numbness was supposed to be a good thing? Something apothecaries use to help you feel less pain when you're hurt. Why should I feel numbness?" He asked, his voice almost panicy as he began to worry over this newly heard symptom
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:32 pm
Dru nodded as the cub buffed himself out like a cute little male that he was and declared himself a big boy. She smiled and stood, stretching out all the kinks and sores on her own body. It seemed that the log caused more soreness in herself than the jump and crash between herself and the cub. Though her stomach muscles weren't happy with the crashing cub's landing, but it would just have to deal.
"Well, I'm glad you're a big boy then. Cause I know I'd have had to tell my Mom or Aunt if I'd gotten hurt, even if it was a very bad hurt." Dru admitted, smiling broader. He was so cute!
"Numbness is good, when the healers and apothecaries give you something to dull the pain. To make it go away. When you feel it after an injury, numbness isn't good. That kind of numbness can mean that you're body isn't working anymore or that a limb will never work again, and that's not good." Dru slowly circled the cub, just to be sure nothing serious had happened to him. "As long as you can move everything and feel your tail, hind legs and front legs, then we can be pretty sure you're not numb."
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:51 pm
"Oh well, I can't really tell my Dad, he's not around much, and my mom isn't really ever around..." The cub thought sincerely for a moment over whether he actually had anybody in this world he could tell this to, and again the thought can crashing right back at him.
Mlinzi.
Why did he always forgot his old and faithful friend.
"But I do have someone I can tell, and he can even make it better if he has the right herbs! But i'm not sure if he'll have any." Another dejected tone fell through the air as he took in his damage. It wasn't much for the hill as a whole, but he seemed to have destroyed every possible herb on the way down. Shaking his head in dissatisfaction, the cub attempted to wiggle each of his joints with little difficulty, though pain was a different story. "Well, I can feel my tail, and all my joints work so I guess i'm not numb at all!" He giggled lightly, once again feeling safe in his own shoes.
"Thank you for taking such care to look over my injuries --- I-Sorry you didn't tell me your name did you?"
Mezlijin took a step back, and puffed out his chest once more to prove his sincerity.
"I am Mezlijin, Soon to be scout of the Kitwana'Antara, and follower of Pumbaa'Mlinzi the destined to be head apothecary of the pride." He then took a deep bow, and smiled sheepishly as he wobbled over to her once more. Whispering softly as he walked by "I think thats your queue!"
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:22 pm
OH he was so cute!
"I'm Dru'etrosa, a plain old rogue. You can call me Dru. Everyone does." She bowed at the little cub, mimicking his own bow and gave a laugh.
"I'm very glad that you can feel everything and that you have a friend to tell this story to. It should be a good story."
Dru looked at the path of destruction on the grassy weedy hill. "If you're a scout and a follower of the future head apothecary of your pride, you were probably looking for plants of use weren't you?"
The side of the hill looked truly useless now, but maybe the other side. "Let's go over to the other side of the hill and see if there's anything that you can take back with you to your pride." Dru started to trotted to the other side of the hill, but not to quickly. Moving to the other side also served to assure her that the cub was truly alright.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:35 am
"Yeah, he'll really enjoy it! Until he has to tend my bo-bo's then he'll just enjoy fussing at me." The young cub snorted slightly thinking of the exact words Mlinzi would use in the lecture. Probably a bunch of really boring ones.
"Oh Dru is a pretty name, I like it!" Mezlijin nodded in approval as though the continued use of her name lie in his own hands. "I wish I had a long name sometimes, but then i'm scared that I might get confused and forget it." Another pause filled the air as he listened intently to Dru's words, allowing the full impact of his accident to hit him.
"Oh yeah..." He mumbled, pulling himself to his feet and staring at the ground. "I don't think I did a very good job did I?" He looked up just in time to see the female slipping to the other side of the hill. "Hey - wait for me!" He yelped, kicking himself to a start and jogging a little slower than usual towards her.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:07 pm
Dru didn't move as slow as she would have when looking for shinies scattered about on the ground, but still slower than her usual gait. Mezlijin kept up rather well despite a small limb. Nothing to really be concerned about, or bring the cub's attention to it. Better to let the apothecary and friend he continued to mention take care of it rather than try to do anything for him. After all, she had no idea what was the best thing to do for injuries like that.
In fact, Dru was kind of out of her depth here looking for herbs and plants. They weren't shiny babbles or feathers or monkey skull caps or silky hides. And they were definitely not cubs. They didn't really need protection because they grew and then regrew. And they tasted weird, but Dru didn't share these opinions with Mezlijin. He would probably be offended and while that would be cute to witness, she didn't want him stomping off and hurting himself because of it.
"Our friends and family tend to like fussing, especially when they care and are worried for our welfare." Dru assured him as she took a path that lead around the base of the hill.
"I had little chance of forgetting my name, everytime my mother or aunt wanted to emphasize something I did, good or bad, they used my full name and the full names of my siblings. We weren't exactly obedient children. I once got stuck up in a tree and my mother found me there unable to get down. She kept using my full name every two words." Dru confided coming to a halt on the untouched side of the hill.
"I don't think that at all, I think you got interrupted from your job, look at all those ... green plants. Surely we'll find something for you to take home. Or you'll just have to pull up every plant and take the whole hill home with you." She teased nudging Mezlijin when he finally caught up to her. "So, Mezlijin, what are we looking for?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:40 pm
Mezlijin listened to Dru speak softly to him, about her family all the while quietly contemplating why he didn't have a close relationship with his own family. He knew his Father was always away on pride business, and his mom wasn't even a part of their pride. But, he didn't even get to know his siblings that well either. Perhaps once he got home, Mlinzi would help him to make that next step towards interaction with them? Who knew, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Lost in his own thoughts, it actually took the young male a few minutes to realize Dru had spoken to him again. Snapping out of it, he racked his brain for what she'd just said.
"Oh, um, I don't think I could take all of them home, i'm only a cub!" He exclaimed sincerely, showing the female his small little paws. "I,I think we're looking for some small green herbs, they might be prickly, and sometimes they change colors. B-But mostly they stay green!" The young cub explained the best he could, all the while scouring the ground for other useful herbs.
Noting a root nearby, the cub went over and dug it up slightly with his paws. When he felt it was sufficiently dug up, he placed his nose near it and took a whiff. The dirt rose in his nose, forcing him to sneeze a few times. But he shook it off, and bent down once more this time taking a small nibble. "EUREKA!" He announced - having absolutely no idea what the word meant "I think this is the root Mlinzi uses for his eye salve!" Giving in to his excitement, the cub forgot all about his recent fall and began digging even more quickly. As he dug, a white hot fire struck through his paw and the cub yelped slightly, backing away from his discovery and looking around hopeful that Dru hadn't heard his yelp.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:46 pm
Dru smiled at the little paws Mezlijin held up for her inspection. "I was thinking more along the lines of rigging you a temporary pack you could have carried or dragged back to the pride."
She studied the little weed that Mezlijin seemed so excited about and started to carefully pick her way around the hillside to find more of them. By the time the cub yelped, she'd found three more, noting where they were and moving on to find the next. Dru turned back and stared at the cub that was staring at her. Ah. He hadn't wanted her to know he'd yelped.
"Did you hear a monkey nearby?" Dru asked, quickly looking around, both for the cubs benefit and for her own satisfaction that there were no little thieving monkeys any where near her or the cub. "I could have sworn I heard one." She put a little bit of a tremble in her statement. Her brothers felt better whenever they were protecting a female, even if the female didn't really need it. Maybe that would work with a cub male too?
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:18 pm
Staring straight to the ground, the cub waited for the certain fussing that he was about to get. His ears hung low, and his tail wrapped around his hind legs awkwardly. But - the fussing never came, instead she started questioning him about a monkey?
"Huh? No I didn't hear anything! Why did you hear something?" Brushing off his impending fear, the cub bristled his fur the best he could and stood at alert, "Don't be scared Dru, I can protect us!" He cheered, bracing himself for a monkey fight.
He looked left and right, prepared to follow the few moves his Father had taught him in order to protect his new friend. But he still didn't hear or see anything, with a low rumbling growl he turned slightly to Dru and commented. "I don't see anything, Do you think we scared him away?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:56 pm
Dru nodded solemly. "I think so. In my experience, lone monkeys are cowards and will run from a fight, and with your threatening growls, it would have had to run, but be on the look out for any just in case. Monkeys can be devils." Dru stated glancing around the area, taking in the cub as she did so.
She had been right, the little male had puffed up in defense of her. It was a handy trick she had thought had only applied to her brothers and her aunt's male. But apparently, that wasn't so. Dru filed that to the back of her mind as a treasure thought.
Dru walked over to Mezlijin and sat down in front of the little plant that had wounded him in some way. "Mezlijin, we can't let them distract us, we'll just have to be alert while we continue with our mission."
Dru nudged the plant with her claw. "Show me how to extract your little treasure, Mezlijin. I've found others that look like it, so we can get more if needed." Now she could keep a better eye on him, and see what that yelp was about.
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